“Do you think this is real?” he asks as we drive down Olive, heading toward Silverline for a day full of shooting season four. He’s got his jacket off and hanging in the back seat, and the white shirt he’s wearing is perfectly ironed.
“It’s definitely real,” I say. “Bailey wouldn’t just kiss River for a photo op. But it might not be real in the sense that they could’ve just been caught up in the moment.”
Luke nods, keeping his eyes on the road. “That could be worse,” he says.
It’s true. We saw firsthand how heartbroken the fans were when everyone read into River’s statement about Bailey and thought there might be a reconciliation—and there wasn’t.
So we asked them to meet with us before shooting starts, just to get a read on what’s going on and to prepare for whatever might be coming.
I’m trying not to get too excited, but if this is some kind of reconciliation, this could fix everything. This is what the fans wanted all along.
Fifteen minutes later, we’re inside Bailey’s cozy trailer, River and Bailey sitting together on the small couch while Luke and I take the chairs pulled up across from them.
“We’re not sure what it means yet,” Bailey says, her hand in River’s, fingers intertwined. She’s half Elora right now, dressed in a robe, her hair curled and hanging down her back, her makeup ethereal looking with soft pink-and-purple eye shadow.
“I think it’s a start in the right direction, though,” River says, looking at her in a way that’s hard to miss. He’s also been through hair and makeup, pointy prosthetic ears poking through his long blond wig and a delicate filigree crown on his head.
Honestly, they both look a little ridiculous to be having this serious conversation right now.
The kiss, as it turns out, was real. I figured that, knowing Bailey. Things came out at the party that they hadn’t previously talked about. It was a bit of a truth-telling night. River thought she’d dropped the blind item, which she didn’t, and Bailey thought the cheating rumor was true—and it wasn’t. All of it layered on top of a breakup that had already happened. Everything finally came out, and one thing led to another. And then the kiss happened, and the internet went wild.
Tessa keeps sending me posts. It’s actually crazy how deeply fans are invested in this.
“And you have no idea who took the picture?” Lukeasks.
Bailey shakes her head. “It was stupid of us to kiss at the party like that, but I didn’t think anyone was around.”
Every once in a while, her newness to the industry shows. Anyone else would know there are always cameras everywhere. River would definitely know that, but I’m guessing he was just caught up in the moment.
“What should we do?” Bailey asks, looking at me.
It must be so hard being where she is—this place where things are fragile with her and River, tentative but hopeful—and having to do all of it under the watchful eye of the public.
I look at Luke before looking back at her. “I don’t think you should confirm or deny it.”
“Yes.” Luke nods. “Let the fans do what they’re going to do.”
River looks at Bailey and smiles softly, and she gives him a smile back. Honestly, it’s so adorable that if this doesn’t work out—if Kaelric and Elora don’t get their happy ending—I, too, am going to be mad.
And it’s not just because I’ll have to pick up the public piecesif it doesn’t. But that’s also part of it, so I’m really rooting for these two.
There’s a knock on the door, and a woman holding a clipboard peeks in, telling Bailey and River they’re expected at wardrobe.
Luke and I leave the trailer, walking toward the set where we’ll sit in what they call “video village,” watching the monitors and keeping an eye out for anything we can share online.
I’m assuming Victoria will want us to keep doing what we’ve been doing despite the recent turn of events. If anything, it’s more important now that we lock in this version of the story before anything else can take over.
We sit side by side in director’s chairs, a monitor in front of us. Luke actually picked his chair up and moved it so he was closer to me. I’m assuming so we can make commentary while watching the action.
But also, it’s making me feel a little sweaty. Or that could just be the temperature in this room.
“I’ve never been on set before,” I tell him. “Have you?”
He nods. “A couple of times. But nothing this big. Once was for an Ella Abbott video.”
I chuckle. “And how was that?” I’ve seen most of her videos. They are usually over-the-top productions.
He gives me a sour look. “She was writhing around on a bed with a huge python, lip-synching to a song about how she wished some guy wouldn’t have cheated.”
